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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29039181">Three PM on a Shitty Monday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okumen/pseuds/Okumen'>Okumen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Azura teachers night classes and Niles is her student, Brief mention of various crimes; some terrible ones, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Teacher/Student, Zero | Niles being Zero | Niles, mentions of shitty pasts, near panic attack, no beta we die like my sleep schedule</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:15:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29039181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okumen/pseuds/Okumen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Niles takes night classes at the university. He hasn't been in a while, though. His teacher has noticed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aqua | Azura &amp; Zero | Niles, Aqua | Azura/Zero | Niles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Three PM on a Shitty Monday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have not slept since yesterday and it's ca 1000 now, I have not slept because I am worried about one of my cats, because he is staying over at the animal hospital. I am so tired.  Hah. Hahah...hah. Distractions~! orz</p><p>Well. Anyway. I really like Nilzura and got this idea seeing Fanlore Wikis latest #TropeTuesday tweet, about the Teacher/Student trope. I may write something else in this setting. I may not. I already had the ship in my head because I saved all the Resplendent Heroes pictures to my computer for reference and ranted on twitter about the Nifl outfits hypothermia potential.</p><p>I'm gonna try to sleep. Maybe I'll revisit for beta'ing and editing, maybe I won't.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Niles took night classes at the local university. Mostly it was to get off the street for a while, and then it was because if someone offered free education that actually was useful, it was not something he was about to object to. Not too much, at least. And getting better at writing wasn’t a bad thing. Getting better at it without having to pay a penny was even better.</p><p>Technically, the class was a beginners class in English, to help immigrants and other people who had not had the fortune of learning since they were young. Niles knew English perfectly fine-- but. Well. He was one of those people not very fortunate in life, and had not attended school as a kid. Hat simply had not been on the table, back then. Barely was now, either. So his letters were ugly, his alphabet a mish-mash, and he couldn’t read very well at all. He had an excellent vocabulary though, according to his teacher. Niles agreed, because if there was one thing he was good at, it was talking. And fighting and being sneaky, but that wasn’t something that he talked about at school.</p><p>His teacher was a woman with long, long pale-blue hair, golden-brown eyes, and an air of familiarity around her. He couldn't quite put his finger on that familiarity. As far as he knew, they didn’t have anything in common. She was elegant, with body movements fluid and controlled, much like a dancers. Her voice was soft and controlled, melodic. He enjoyed both watching and listening to her. It made learning from her enjoyable.</p><p>Unfortunately, Niles sometimes needed to skip class. His life was chaotic, and keeping a stable schedule wasn’t the easiest thing for him. He had appointments for fights, burglaries, minor murder, trade deals, various other business. He should logically not be having a regular appointment like a language class at all, it was a bit of a risk, but he liked attending.</p><p>As such, he wasn’t too happy to have missed out for three weeks in a row. He didn’t know what his plans for next Thursday looked, either. As things stood, it seemed more likely he would have to skip it again. He couldn’t leave a message, either, since he hadn’t given out his number. He didn’t want it on file at the university, and he didn’t want theirs on his phone record. He fiddled with the thing, an ancient flip that still worked wonders for him, as he drank his breakfast at three in the afternoon at a dingy coffee shop exactly twenty-three minutes from his crummy apartment. He could sense someone watching him across the shop.</p><p>He had expected one of the other members of his gang to show up, or that the person whose gaze he felt at the back of his neck was someone that might be hostile. Not <i>her</i>.</p><p>Azura Valleta slid into the seat next to him. Niles slid his pocket knife back up his sleeve. He let his surprise show, but hid his unease. “Miss Teacher, what a surprise.” He felt terribly inadequate, as he saw her sharp dress and well-done hair. He had not even shaved yet, having been up for forty-seven hours and intending to go home and sleep as soon as he was done with breakfast. It had been a hectic few days.</p><p>She huffed a small sigh, and one of her delicate was raised, as she looked at him. She placed a styrofoam cup on the table, and placed a paper plate with a muffin and a donut on it. The muffin was easy enough to identify as blueberry, but it took a few moments for him to realise that what was sprinkled on top of the glazed donut was shredded bacon. He blinked in surprise at that.</p><p>“You’ve been missing class,” Azura remarked, without bothering to comment on the nickname. He always used it, anyway, in a suave tone of voice and a coy look in his eye. She had from day one told class to simply call her Azura. He felt that their worlds were far too different for him to do that. “You have a fair bit of homework to catch up on.”</p><p>“Ah, well.” Niles cleared his throat, and sipped his scalding hot black coffee. “I’m afraid that I have been quite busy, as of late.” He didn’t elaborate. He was surprised that she didn’t ask him to. Instead, she pulled a packet out of her bag and slid it over the counter surface toward him. “Uh..?”</p><p>“The work you have missed,” Azura clarified. “I had it printed in the convenience store next door, while my order was being prepared.”</p><p>Niles wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. It didn’t take that long to brew coffee, or tea, or whatever she had in her cup, and the treats were already prepared, ready to simply drop in a bag or on a plate.</p><p>“Thank you...?”</p><p>She crossed her legs. Her jeans were tight, without looking as though they were restrictive. Niles loved trousers like that. You could feel every curve of a persons body when they wore them.</p><p>He glanced away from her legs, firm in the decision to not look at them. Well. He couldn’t help it, though. Her waist, too, was accentuated by the blouse that she wore. It fell loosely around her shoulders, showing a little bit of her cleavage, and the gold chain of the necklace that she always wore. Tantalizing, inviting. He kept his hands to himself. He was very proud of himself for that. Her hands were on her cup. He wanted her to pull his hair. Niles dragged his gaze back up to hers. She was talking.</p><p>“I would tell you to not miss any more of my classes, but I have understood that it’s not so easy for you to promise that.”</p><p>Niles tensed without meaning to. He glanced away, which he knew was not a subtle thing, but he couldn’t keep eye contact. He didn’t want her to see the darkness that he knew flickered through his eye at the memory of the past few weeks. “I’m not sure what you mean, Miss Teacher.”</p><p>“I’m sure you don’t.” She sipped her drink. Took a bite of her donut. He felt his gaze drawn to her lips. She set her cup down, and held it between her fingertips.”I’m not so ignorant as you might think.”</p><p>Niles almost flinched. He managed not to, but he knew his posture had changed. Flight mode, bubbling under the surface of his skin. If she knew what he was like, and was telling him that she did, then it was a risk to be around her. She was a normal person, unlike him. With a normal job, a normal life. It always went bad if normal people were dragged into his shady life.</p><p>He was drawn out of his thoughts forcefully, with fingers burying in his hair. They were gentle, he noticed. But there was the scrape of well-kept nails, too.</p><p>“Niles. You know how to breathe. So <i>breathe.</i>”</p><p>He did. He closed his eyes, concentrated on the fingers rubbing at his scalp. Concentrated on his breath, on the slow, rhythmic in and out. Had he been spiraling? How had she known?</p><p>When he opened his eye to look at her, Azura removed her hand. “It’s fine,” she assured him. She turned back to her cup. “I simply recognise the signs, that’s all.” His lips parted, but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. She broke the silence between them. “My mother and I... had to run away from a situation, when I was a child.”</p><p>There were other things too. Niles could tell, by the tone of her voice. Many words hidden behind the few she had told him. It felt wrong to ask. But the revelation that maybe they weren’t entirely different struck him, as he watched her eat her food. He hadn’t seen it before. She wore a mask of gentle propriety in class, he realised. He had failed to see through it. That meant that his teacher was a very talented actress. And to become a talented actress in life, suffering was more or less required.</p><p>Niles slid the packet of homework sheets closer. He glanced over at her, and their eyes met. Their gazes remained locked, for several long heartbeats. It almost felt like he couldn’t breathe, but without the weight of encroaching panic.</p><p>Niles’ phone dinged, and the spell was broken.</p><p>He slid the packet into his scuffed backpack, and bid his teacher a good rest of her day.</p><p>Whatever that was, the whole exchange they had shared... He hoped to experience it again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This story is part of the <a href="https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject">LLF Comment Project</a>, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:</p><p>Feedback</p><ul>
<li>Short comments</li>
<li>Long comments</li>
<li>Questions</li>
<li>Constructive criticism</li>
<li>“&lt;3” as extra kudos</li>
<li>Reader-reader interaction</li>
</ul><p>This author sees and appreciates all comments, but replies may take time.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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